These Fort Worth chefs cooked up food and love for Port Aransas

For most of the last month, either Chandler’s crew from Fred’s Texas Cafe or the team from Bonnell’s, Buffalo Bros. and Waters cooked in Port Aransas, serving first responders, volunteers, the homeless and anyone else in need.

With the help of $30,000 in online donations and donated food and equipment, they helped serve from 2,000 to 3,000 people daily until more Port Aransas restaurants opened last week.

“Everyone is trying like hell to put the place back together,” Bonnell wrote by email, “but the sheer volume of work seems to be insurmountable.”

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One day, he served 140 quarts of his familiar chicken-and-sausage gumbo.

Two messages to pass along:

First of all, Port Aransas needs housing more than household goods. If you’ve got an old RV or house trailer, there’s someone in Port Aransas who’d like to sleep in it.

Second, Port Aransas’ beaches and beachfront resorts are still beautiful. The core of the city took the harder hit.

Some restaurants and lodgings are open now, with more expected by either Thanksgiving weekend or Christmas week.

“Plan a trip, rent a condo, enjoy the beaches, eat at a local place,” Bonnell wrote: “Spend some money in a town that desperately needs it. But be ready to see some things that will truly break your heart.”

▪ Torchy’s Tacos doesn’t have a special, but the “taco of the month” is the Tailgater: a panko-crusted chicken fillet on bacon and potatoes covered in green chile queso, topped with Diablo sauce, poblano ranch slaw, smoky blue cheese and a drizzle of honey.

▪ Taco Bueno, home of the “party taco,” is giving a free taco with every purchase (limit one), and promoting its $5 Muchaco or burrito boxes.

▪ The Minnesota-based R Taco (Rusty Taco) chain, founded in Dallas, will host a charity fundraiser at its flagship store, 4802 Greenville Ave. (A Fort Worth location is open on Bluebonnet Circle, but a new Camp Bowie Boulevard location will not open until the weekend.)

▪ Taco Cabana offers a free fajita taco if you sign up online for the rewards club at tacocabana.com.